Didn't Know I Needed Saving
by dancerbaby414
Summary: It's hard when bad things are happening, but it's even harder to pretend like they're not. Eventually you slip up, and other people will start barging into your life. With or without permission.
1. Chapter 1

There I was. Lying on the ground. Crying hysterically. Was it because I was relieved? Happy? Miserable? Worried? I couldn't quite figure out why I was crying. But, Godric, did it feel good to let it out. The tears were warm as they slide down my face, but, magically, they were cold against my hands as they dropped through the air and into my palms.

I wasn't sure how I was going to explain myself. But all I know is when Harry Potter is standing over you with that look on his face, somewhere between empathetic and livid, you tell him the truth. And you tell him all of it.

* * *

My name is Amelia Elizabeth Corner. I should tell you that, yes, I have a very Muggle name. My mother is a Muggleborn, and I have no idea who my father is. My mother was only 18 years old when she had me. A fact she never let me forget. I came along and ruined her life.

My first memory is being around two and a half or three years old. We were walking, well my mother was walking, I was being pulled down a quaint street. I saw the most beautiful set of swings across the way. Two men were pushing two little boys. They were laughing. All of them. A dark-haired man and his dark-haired little boy. The other man had lighter hair and was bigger, and therefore, his laugh was much louder. His little boy was pudgy and the quietest, but obviously still having a blast.

Oh, how I wanted to swing. To feel the wind blowing my hair, see the ground go by and come back again. I wanted to be free.

"Mommy, swings! Mommy, look! Meel-ah swing!"

I tried to pull my mother towards the laughter and fun, but she yanked me back. She scratched her arm and quickly pulled down her sleeve.

"No, Amelia. No swings. We're going to be late."

"Mommy, PLEASE. I said the magic word."

"I said no. Let's go. I don't have time for this."

My second memory was of later that day of playing on the ground of some dirty basement while my mother slept off her high. I pretended to be swinging and making friends with those little boys. I pretended we made such good friends that one of their daddies brought me home forever.

Very rarely my mother speaks of family members other than me. I had grandparents, who disowned her when she became pregnant with me. They since passed away. Mother never had nice words to say about them. They were snotty and unloving and had stopped appreciating her the second they found out she was a witch, too. Too because I have an Uncle Michael. Uncle Michael is a no good son of a bitch who turned out to be worse than my grandparents. He didn't mind so much that my mom got pregnant at 18. He didn't mind that my father was not around. He minded the drugs. To be honest, I minded the drugs, but I had nowhere else, no one else.

"You have to stop. There can be no more of this. Do you see? Can you see what it's doing to you? You're a fucking mess. You can barely walk. Barely putting two sentences together. How the fuck do you think you're going to keep taking care of your own child?"

"Get. Out."

"You need help. That child needs help. You are going nowhere fast. How can you pretend that your life is okay right now? You're living in a dump. Your clothes are ripped and dirty. You smell like you haven't had running water in weeks. Your daughter is almost two years old and she has barely spoken a word yet. It's not okay. It hasn't been okay. It's not going to be okay."

"Get the FUCK OUT OF HERE."

"No. I'm not leaving."

"Get the fuck out, Michael. I don't need you. I don't want you here. I am on my own now. I don't need your fucking help. You look at me like I am dirt. Like I am less than dirt. Like I am nothing. Well, to you I am nothing. I am NOTHING TO YOU. Do not come here again. You stay the fuck away from me you no good son of a bitch. You're worse than our parents."

"How could you say that? I was with you. I went to the doctors. I held your hand when that baby came. I fucking bought her books and toys and clothes. And you repay me by shooting up in her nursery? No. Fuck you. I can't even look at you anymore. Fuck this. Fuck you."

And then there was no more Uncle Michael. Uncle Michael was a no good son of a bitch anyway.

Mother did not like me being away from the house unless it was for one of three reasons. The first being making money in anyway possible. The second being to purchase food. And the third was if she wanted to score and knew I would freak if I was around to see it.

When I was five or six, we started hanging outside of nice looking restaurants in London. My mother told me we were playing dress up. She would put some powder on my face and some eye shadow around my eyes. She told me I was a beautiful princess. A beautiful little sick princess who had to cough in front of the nice people. Yes. That's it, Amelia. That's a girl. You're okay. Oh, thank you, ma'am. Now we can afford her medicine this week.

By the time I was old enough to catch to what was happening, I began thinking of other ways to make money. Firstly, I didn't want to be a lying sick princess anymore. I also didn't want to know what would happen when mother realized I was too old to be that cute anymore.

After my tenth birthday, I began watching a little girl in the apartment directly above ours. I loved that little girls. Her name was Katherine. She was beautiful. The longest, shiniest blonde hair I had ever seen. Like me, Katherine did not have a father. But she did have a mother who had to go to work, and a grandmother who got very tired. So every day when Katherine's mom went to work at nighttime, I would play with Katherine while her grandmother made dinner.

Katherine loved to play with dolls and read books. She loved when I braided her hair. I loved Katherine. She was so sweet and her green eyes twinkled when she laughed, which was often. She was free.

Each night, I would help Katherine's grandmother put Katherine to bed, and then I would clean up all the toys we had played with. I earned fifteen pounds per week! Mother was happy at first, but very quickly we would run out of money.

Babysitting was easy and soon Katherine's mom would tell other moms she knew about me. I began getting more and more odd jobs. Mother was happier. We were doing okay. And by okay, I mean when I hoarded some money away to pay the water and electric bill, we had water and electric.

When I turned eleven, my letter came. It was beautiful. The off-white card stock sent shivers down my spine. The beautiful wax seal that I was terrified to fracture. The smell. It smelled like sunshine and rain and new books and old books. It smelled like hope.

I hugged it to my chest for a few minutes with a real genuine smile on my face. One I usually reserved for Katherine and my other wee friends.

I broke the seal and slide the letter out of the envelope.

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

Freedom. I was free. I was leaving this place. I was getting out of here.


	2. Chapter 2

"Of course, you aren't going to that hell-hole, Amelia. Are you daft? You think that _Hogwarts_ is a good place for a girl like you? No, no, no. Amelia, darling. You aren't very bright, my dear. Those Professors at Hogwarts will eat your for breakfast. You'll never make there. No, no, no. We can't have that. You'll do your schooling at home. You can take as long as you need on all your assignments. Finish as slow as you need. Not have to rush or be reminded of how inadequate you are."

So I wasn't exactly free or leaving or getting out of here.

I pretended like I was okay. But inside my heart was shredding into a million pieces. Pieces so tiny, I thought they would never go back together again. I cried all night into my pillow. I kept telling myself that I could flip it over when I was done and try to sleep on the cool, dry side. But I didn't even remember falling asleep as I woke up the next morning.

So before my mother came up with some excuse as to why I wouldn't be able to do any schooling at all. I wrote a letter back to Hogwarts, signing my mother's name of course, requesting the curriculum so that my schooling could be done at home. By the Ministry, I would be required to sit end of year exams like the rest of the Wizarding World, but at my own time and my own pace.

* * *

It was a warm day in August when my mother and I walked down the streets of Diagon Alley together. I had never been before, and I was so excited. Mother said we only had enough money today for my wand and books and potions ingredients. I would not get an owl or a cat or a toad. I would not get a broom. I would not get anything other than exactly the bare minimum of what I needed in order to get through my schoolwork. I didn't even get parchment or quills or ink. Muggles have these brilliant things called pens.

After getting all my books, and dumping them into my new (to me – used by someone else) cauldron, Mother dismissed me to Ollivanders to get my wand alone. She had a friend to meet. Right.

I was nervous as I opened the door and heard the quiet jingle of the bells attached to the door jam. Wow. I had never seen so many boxes. They were everywhere. Floor to ceiling, on tables and chairs, and floating in mid-air.

"Hello, there! Off to Hogwarts this year?"

Mother had told me of Mr. Ollivander. He was an old man when she was a girl and a creeper to boot. He spoke in circles. Didn't make sense. Shouldn't be allowed near children if you asked her.

But I was not greeted by Mr. Ollivander. Instead, I was greeted by a handsome young man in his mid-thirties.

"Uhm. Hi." Good one, Amelia. Way to sound not weird or anything.

"Adrian Pucey. It's nice to meet you…"

"Amelia. Amelia Corner."

"Amelia! Nice to meet you, Amelia. I am assuming you need a wand today?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right. Let's see. How about this one?"

He handed me a light colored wand it was short but had an intricate handle. The second it touched my hand, he snatched it away again.

"No, no, no. That's not it," he whispered. "Ah. Here we go. Yes, yes. Much better."

I swore I heard a stack tumble to the ground, but Mr. Pucey didn't seem to notice. The second wand was longer this time by only an inch. It was so dark it was almost black. I help it for a moment. Nothing.

"Hmm. You're a tricky one, I see." Mr. Pucey muttered turning once more to dig through a new stack of boxes. "AHA! Yes. But not too tricky for me, no."

She was beautiful. A light cherry wood. Unicorn hair, very pliable. I loved her from the moment she graced my fingertips. The lights grew brighter, and I heard more tumbling boxes from the back of the store. Mr. Pucey laughed, and I pulled out my rare, genuine smile.

I practically skipped back down Diagon Alley as my mother and I headed home. It was dark by now; I ended up sitting outside the ice cream shop for hours while I waited for my mother. A young man who worked there asked me what flavor I wanted. Even when I said I didn't have any money, he brought me a delicious cone covered in toppings. He got a genuine smile too. I seemed to be doing a lot of those.

When we returned back to our apartment, I spread out all my books and just looked at this. This was it. These books were how I was going to get my freedom.

* * *

At a very young age, I learned how to lie. To my mother. To myself. To strangers. No, my mother doesn't do drugs. Yes, I eat three meals a day. I'm fine. My mother loves me. She helps me do my homework all the time. I'm fine. No, Mother, this is my whole paycheck, I promise. I tripped up the stairs. I'm such a clutz. I fell over in the shower. I'm fine. One of the little guys I babysit got with with a toy truck. I'm fine.

So I lied to everyone. My mother didn't know that I was taking money from all the jobs I was working to pay rent on time and to pay the water bill and to buy my new schoolbooks. She didn't know that at the end of every month I put whatever money I had into a savings account at a local Muggle bank. It was never that much, but it would have been enough to help my mother score. I did whatever I could to not let her do that with _my_ money. However, she got her own money or drugs was her business. It had to be. It had to be, or I would have been way more fucked up than I was already destined to be.

I lied to my employers, telling mothers I was older than I was so I could watch more kids or watch them for later hours. Putting a false birth date on a job application was easy. When I was fourteen, I was waitressing all over town. When I left one job, they thought I was going home. When I left, I really went to whatever job I had lined up next.

I was hoping to work my life away now, so that when I turned seventeen I would have enough money to run away. I could do it. I wasn't too scared to run away. It was like swinging. You just have to build enough momentum, and then you're free.

I kept up with my schooling, but it was not my priority. I learned enough to get by with Acceptables on all my exams. I also figured if I did too poorly or too well on anything, I would draw attention to myself. Hogwarts might come looking. I didn't want to find out what would happen if a professor showed up at my door.

My mother didn't start hitting me until I was fourteen. It was May 3rd. Don't ask me why I know that it was May 3rd. I'm not sure. It's just something I'll never forget.

It was 11:42 PM. I had just gotten home from babysitting. Three boys: ages five, three, and one. Talk about a handful. I was tired. There was pasta sauce stuck in my hair. I smelled like baby powder and drool. I just wanted to shower.

"You dumb bitch."

Mother's home.

"You dumb, stupid, awful, bitch. I know what you're doing."

I should pause to mention that those five words were some of the most terrifying words someone could ever say to me. I was hiding so much. Not knowing what the other person knew, could lead me to a full-blown panic attack.

"You've been taking my stash. You've been searching in my hiding spots and taking what belongs to _me_."

"What?!" Oh thank Godric. I'm not actually doing that. She doesn't know anything.

"Every time I need something, it's gone. I have none. I have none, Amelia. I have none. And _you_ took it from me."

"I didn't take anything from you. I don't do that. I don't get high. I don't do any drugs. I wouldn't take what belongs to you."

"DON'T LIE TO ME, AMELIA. DON'T LIE TO ME."

"Shhh. Stop. You have to be quiet. The landlord will hear us. Do you want to be kicked out of this place?!"

This was another one of my biggest fears. I had made this tiny little crap hole our home. I had paid extra every month so that on the rare occasion my mother remembered that rent was due, this occurs every four months or so, he would lie to her and say she already paid up. I paid extra so he would keep our secrets, so long as I kept her under control.

Poor Muggle. I think he had a soft spot for me. I once noticed I looked similar to a young girl in a picture on his desk in his office.

"Oh, no. Don't you pull that shit with me, Amelia. We won't get kicked out, but you might. You lying piece of shit. You're disgusting. Stealing from your own mother! Have you no shame?"

That's rich, coming from a drug addict who just called her own daughter a lying piece of shit. I hated arguing with her. Hated it. How do you argue back with a person who is completely irrational and better yet, will have no recollection of this conversation tomorrow?

This time I couldn't keep it in. For years, I said nothing. Did nothing. But not today. Not May 3rd at 11:49 PM.

"HAVE I NO SHAME? HAVE I NO FUCKING SHAME? FUCK YOU. I HAVE SHAME. IT'S YOU. I AM ASHAMED OF YOU."

11:50 PM. CRACK.

Soon after that Mother was slumped over on the kitchen table snoring and drooling lightly onto her arm.

I was wiping the blood off the floor and off of my mouth. I began digging in the freezer for some ice.


	3. Chapter 3

I count myself very lucky, for many reasons obviously, but one being that I love my job. I became the youngest Head of the Auror Department at the prime age of 28. I guess being the Boy Who Lived turns you into the Man Who's In Charge. I am not ashamed to admit that I cried that evening when I went home and told Ginny that I had gotten the promotion. Not ashamed one bit.

Ginny knew that I loved my job as an Auror. Putting away the bad guys seemed to be what I was meant to do. It came easy to me. I was calm and collected. I worked hard at it to do my best. Be the best. And I really did love doing it, but there was always a part of me that wanted to do more. Putting the Death Eaters in prison definitely made the Wizarding World a safer place, but it wasn't enough for it to just be safer. I wanted the Wizarding World to be _better_.

And like me, there was always a part of Ginny that wanted to do more than play professional Quidditch. Ginny always wanted to be a mom. She wanted to have babies to love and raise. And I always want to save kids stuck in homes that were no good for them. I wanted to be the man they dreamt would come every night who knocked on the door to take them to a better place.

By the time I got my promotion to Head Auror, Ginny's dream (and what was unknowingly was my dream too) had already begun to come true.

James Sirius was meticulous planned, by Ginny, to be conceived the moment her sixth and final season as a Harpie ended. And he was. Godric, is that boy wild.

Albus Severus was a surprise. But a very happy one. We were not planning for Potter number two to come so quickly after Potter number one, but plans shmans. He is my thinker. My very observant thinker.

And we had just found out about Potter number three about a week before my promotion. We hadn't even told all the Weasley's yet.

So there I was, sitting on our bed, head in Gin's lap, crying. She stroked my hair until I was ready.

"This is it, Gin. I can do it. I can open a department whose purpose is to find kids in shitty homes. Find them and help them. I can do it. I can finally do it."

And Ginny cried too. But she was pregnant so that was probably just the hormones.

* * *

And so I did. Thank Godric for Hermione. If it wasn't for her research, planning, and law writing skills, I would have never been able to start the new department under Magic Law Enforcement. But there she went, drafting laws about what the standards should be for raising a child, what was considered abused or not properly cared for, how a person could report suspicious behavior, and the process a member of the Magical Law Enforcement would have to follow should a child be reported to them.

And thank Godric for Ron. Ron was the very first Auror to volunteer to be apart of the new task force. Seeing three out of the three of the Golden Trio being involved in anything seemed to rile up the troops, and soon I didn't know what to do with all my volunteers. Don't worry though, Hermione found jobs for all of them. Great woman, that Hermione.

And I should also thank Godric for Ginny. Because she is my wonderful, beautiful wife who stayed at home with my wonderful, beautiful children to help me live out my dreams. Yes. Thank Godric for Ginny. I love her.

At first it was slow. No reports really came in, apparently the Wizarding World wasn't apt to report their neighbors for treating their kids badly. So I started thinking of when I was a kid. What were the indicators?

Auror Potter came out. "I want a list of all Hogwarts students. They are to be monitored for malnutrition. I don't care what Poppy tells them she's looking for, but she's going to check each of them. I want a list of all magical students who don't report to Hogwarts. The war is over, if your child isn't attending Hogwarts, I want to know why. Every student with failing or barely passing marks needs to be checked into. Do they need a tutor, or are they just doing the bare minimum that they're capable of for some other reason?"

Off they scurried. Operation Safe Homes was in motion.

Despite how much this tears at my very soul, there is one other person I thanked Godric for. Draco Malfoy. Let's make this very clear, we were not and are not friends. But after Malfoy manor got demolished in 1999 and the Aurors got out anything questionable, Malfoy rebuilt a much smaller home further away from the gates. He actually volunteered his land to us when he heard about Operation Safe Homes.

"Why would you think I would accept anything that you offer to me, Malfoy? Do you want me indebted to you or something?"

"Merlin, Potter, no. I do not want you indebted to me. In fact, my mother and I feel indebted to _you_. Malfoy's don't like to be indebted to anyone. So I'm offering you fifteen acres of my land. Build yourself an orphanage or whatever. Help these kids who are getting the shit beat out of them. Take the land, and we're square. No one owes anyone anything. We can pretend that we don't know each other."

"You're serious?"

"Do you really think I would take the time to come to the Ministry, where I am super welcomed by the way, and spend my afternoon talking to you _for a practical joke_?"

"All right, don't get your knickers bunched."

"How have they given you any authority around here? I just don't understand."

And that is how The Malfoy House for Children came to be. Well actually, I made him do all the legal paperwork with Hermione, and THAT'S how The Malfoy House for Discplaced Children came to be, legally. Neither were very happy with the arrangement, but it was _for the children, guys_.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a hard job. Looking at pictures of bloodied up kids after visits to St. Mungos. Appearing at the homes of some questionable folks. Checking to see if these kids were safe in their own homes. Sometimes taking an unwilling child from their parent. Their parent who was in some way or another abusing them. Sometimes kids cried in your arms, thanking you over and over again. I never expected a child to hate me for pulling them away from the situation they were in. But it's built into us. Even abused children love their parents for the most part.

It was hard for me to deal with the kids who hated me. How could they hate me for helping them? It took a lot of long nights holding Ginny and her telling me over and over again that they didn't understand. Those kids didn't know that's not how their parents were supposed to care for them. One day they would grow up, and then they would understand.

Harder than kids who didn't want to be removed from their home were the kids who we couldn't get out of the bad situation. Sometimes there wasn't enough proof or the evidence was conflicting. One child said everything was fine, but the other said 'Please. Please take me away from here, Mr. Potter.' Those cases were the worst. Knowing you were leaving a kid to have the shit knocked out of them. Praying we'd be able to come back in the morning and find out what really happened behind closed doors.

It never became easier, but after a few years it became more manageable. The home on Malfoy's property was flourishing. The children there received schooling and care from volunteers and round the clock. Very quickly the older children would take the littles under their wings. Cherishing them, buddying up with them, becoming siblings despite no blood connection.

It was about ten years into this new program. And I was stuck on this one girl. I knew something about her and her mother wasn't right, but I could never get enough, my people could never get enough to do anything about it. The girl, she was unhappy. Miserable even. But she said over and over she was fine. Her eyes told me that mouth was lying.

* * *

I had just turned fifteen a few days before, and I was taking a well-deserved night off to go for a walk alone around London. I was in the middle of putting on my gloves, trying to remember where I left my hat, when there was a knock at the front door. Weird. My mother only gets visitors when she's home. More specifically when she is home, and I am not.

I walked softly to the front door, in case I had to pretend that no one was home, and stood on my toes to see through the peephole. A nicely dressed man around forty stood outside the door. He spoke.

"Miss Corner? Are you home? I am with the Ministry of Magic."

I thought for a moment. If it was a dealer, they definitely would have left by now. You don't answer, they don't hang around and wait. Someone else will pay them more quickly. No. Definitely not a dealer. They had to actually be with the Ministry. So either my mother was in trouble, or I was. And if it was bad enough, they would come back. They would come back, and my mother would probably be home. And that wouldn't bode well for either us.

"The Ministry?" I called through the door. "What is this in regards to?"

"Oh good!" I heard him say quietly. "Ma'am. This is just a routine check. It's not Ministry protocol to come check in on families who do not send their students to Hogwarts."

Shit. It was me. I'm in trouble.

"I'm sorry, but how do I know that you're actually the Ministry. No offense, but you could be a burglar coming in to burgle me." Burgle. What fifteen year old says burgle. I'm definitely in trouble now. I could see him smirk through the peephole.

"Good girl. You shouldn't let strangers in your door. My name is Harry Potter…"

I couldn't help it. I laughed. A loud barking laugh. Yeah, right. Harry Potter. At my door.

"Miss Corner?"

"I'm sorry, but now I _know_ you aren't with the Ministry. Harry Potter. There's no way Harry Potter is at my front door."

"Why yes there is! Look through the peephole. Here's my badge."

I looked. Shit. Holy. Shit. There he was. He took his hat off, and I could see it without checking against his badge. Harry fucking Potter. I opened the door.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Potter. I couldn't have been more rude. Please, come in. Can I get you anything? Tea? Water? Tea? Wait, I said that. I'm so sorry." I bustled around the kitchen. You shouted at _Harry Potter_ through the door for five minutes. Yup. They were definitely carting you off to St. Mungo's any minute.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss Corner. And no, I'm fine, I don't need a drink. I'm actually impressed that you didn't let just anyone into your apartment. Not all of your generation are so cautious."

I wasn't sure how to say that I was used to keep strange men and women out in the hallway in the attempts of keeping drugs and keeping in what belonged to me. So I said nothing instead.

"Oh. I just noticed you are dressed to go out. Did I catch you at a bad time." He glanced between my backpack, my hat, and my coat.

"No. No. I was just going for a walk. For leisure purposes. No big deal to postpone." His eyes are so green. How could they be that green. I feel like they're looking into my soul. Like they know things. Look away, Amelia. Look away. But I couldn't. I couldn't look away.

"Nothing like a nice walk to clear you mind, eh?" He smiled gently. He continued though, "Where is your mother this evening, Miss Corner? I was hoping to get the chance to talk to her as well."

I tried not to make any negative face at the mention of my mother. I would get it good if she knew I said anything ill of her. If they started snooping around. "She's at work this evening. She's done around ten." Vague. Be vague. Never reveal too much. Just enough that sounds like you aren't thinking about the answer. Be natural. Like you say these words every day.

"Oh okay. Well, at the Ministry, we just want to make sure that all of the members of our World are happy, healthy, and thriving. And we want to know if there is anything we can do for you, Amelia. Anything to make your life easier, to help you, to make your life into something more than it is, or to help you reach your dreams."

Every fiber of my being frozen. I didn't even blink. My mind was racing though. Was this for real, or is this the biggest crock of shit I ever heard. Could he help me? Could he get me out of here? Or would I just end up right back but with an even more pissed mother. If he did get me out, I knew what my mother would do. She would freak out. Go ape shit. Kill someone. Kill herself. Become homeless. Get arrested. Any or all of the above.

But wait a minute. Where was this coming from? Why all of the sudden? Why after five years of not attending Hogwarts did they send somebody to "pop by" for a check up. And not just someone. Harry Potter. No. This wasn't adding up. I am not important enough for Harry Potter to come waltzing in to check on me. They have lower level people for that.

I tried to recover quickly and not let on that what he said to me affected me in the slightest.

"That's very kind of the Ministry, Mr. Potter. I have to say though, I am a little confused about you, the Head of the Auror Department, Savior of the Wizarding World, the Boy Who Lived, walking around Muggle London making house calls. Seems a little above and beyond your duties, yeah? In any case, I'm fifteen. I don't have a lot of hopes and dreams right now. I'm just trying to study hard and pass my O.W.L.S. next year."

His eyes narrowed slightly as I spoke. Like I was suddenly much more interesting to him. Shit. Sound like a teenager, Amelia.

"Is there any way you want to help me get some Outstandings?" I laughed. It was fake. He smiled though.

"Sorry, Miss Corner, but even the Head of the Auror Department can't fudge your O.W.L scores."

"Unfortunate. Again, thank for coming out here, Mr. Potter, but I assure you, I am in need of nothing." What I am in need of is figuring out why Harry Potter is my living room. Who was he investigating? One of my mother's dealers maybe. That had to be it.

I'll let you in on a little secret. That wasn't it.


	5. Chapter 5

It never made it out on my walk that night. Instead I sat at home thinking and thinking and thinking. Did I tell my mother about this? Did I tell her that Harry Potter came to our little apartment? Sat at our little kitchen table. Did I tell her that I thought he was snooping? No. No, I can't tell her. That'll send dear old Mother off the deep end.

I know I have thus far painted my mother to not be such a great person, but she's my mother. I love her. I'm biologically predisposed to love her. I wanted to get away from her. But I didn't want to be _taken_ away from her. And I didn't want her to be taken away from me either. I just wanted to one day part ways. Quietly, calmly. I should have known better; quiet and calm were seldom words to describe my mother.

Besides, it wasn't her fault that she was the way she was. My father, whoever he was, obviously didn't love her very much. Her parents obviously didn't love her very much. Even Uncle Michael, couldn't handle how broken she was anymore. I was the only person left to love her. I had to take that responsibility seriously.

When she returned home from work that evening, I didn't say anything. I didn't tell her. I figured I had done my job anyway. It didn't seem like Mr. Potter would be coming back. So maybe my mother would never have to know. It would just be another little secret that I kept from the rest of the world. I didn't know I was the only one with secrets.

* * *

I have to stop this. I have to get out. There's no other way. I have to stop. I can't stop. I can't stop. I don't want to stop. I am so empty. So alone. This is the only way I feel alive. I am broken. I am so completely broken. I need this to be whole again. I need this to be a real human. Not the shell of a broken piece of shit. I can't stop. I'll find a way. Work more. Something. Anything. I'll pay him off. I'll get him the money. Maybe Amelia is stashing cash again. I'll find it. I'll figure this out.

* * *

Two weeks later, I was sitting at the kitchen table trying to finish a History of Magic Essay. My textbook wasn't super helpful, it was obvious I needed to do some outside research, but I obviously didn't have much access to a lot of other books. My mother was half asleep on the couch. Her beer was close to falling out of her hand and onto the floor. But the fallout of a spilled beer was much less dramatic than the fallout of a beer taken from her hand.

A loud knock came from the front door. My mother jumped in her slumber and sat straight up. Her eyes were wild. I made to stand up, but her left hand flew to her mouth to shush me and her right hand was up telling me 'stop'. I did. Half sitting, half standing, I froze. I froze like my life depended on it. Mother didn't move either.

The knock came again. A little harder this time. Louder. Mother's eyes got even wider. I knew this wasn't going to end well. I just knew it.

"I know you're in their Corner. Open the fucking door, you dumb bitch."

A single tear started to fall down her cheek. I had never seen her look so terrified in my entire life. She looked me dead in the eye. She practically sprinted to me. I didn't know she could be so stealthy. She grabbed my arms and shook me as she whispered, "Amelia, hide. Hide and do not come out. Go in the other room, close the door and hide like you never want to be found. Do. Not. Come. Out." I couldn't move. "Go!"

I bolted. Making much more noise at this speed than my mother did. I closed the door softly and took off my shoes. I hid them under the bed and tip toed back to the door and listened. Hide. Not happening. I could hear my mother walk to the door like she always did. She opened it.

"Oh Frank! Sorry! I was in the bedroom getting dressed. I couldn't hear the door. What can I do for you this eve…" she was interrupted by what sounded like thunder. A huge CRACK and the scattering of furniture.

"Don't you fucking lie to me, Corner. You weren't in the other room. I'm not stupid. You were trying to hide, and you knew you couldn't. Where's my money? I want my money _yesterday_ , and I don't have it. So what does that tell you about my mood."

"I know, Frank. I'm so sorry. I promise. I promise that I'm working on it. Here! I have some for you. I have been working extra for weeks. Here this is for you." I couldn't hear the ruffling of bills, but it was like my mind could see through the door. I could see my mom digging through her purse and handing him everything she had.

"Two-hundred pounds?! That's it?! That's what you got for me, Corner? Two-hundred pounds? Didn't I already tell you that I wasn't stupid?!"

"Frank! I don't think your stupid. No, not at all. I promise I am working really hard to get you the money. I am doing everything I can."

"No you aren't. I told you what would make us square, and you're not doing that. Your time is up, Corner."

Something fell to the floor. It wasn't furniture. What was it?

"Please, no. Please. I'll do anything. _Anything_ but that. Please, you don't understand. I have done so much to her. I'm trying to be better. Please. I can't let this happen to her."

"Don't worry, Corner. I'll tell her you tried to stop me, but you just didn't try hard enough. Now, where is she?" His voice was getting louder. He was breathing hard. Who were they talking about? What did he want with her?

"She's not here." Shit. She doesn't mean me. Why does he want me? No, it can't be me.

"Bull shit, Corner. She's always fucking here, when she's not at work." Shit. They fucking mean me. Am I safe here? Is going to find me? Shit. I should have hid. I should have fucking hid. Fuck, Amelia. Now what?!

It was too late to try to hide. His voice had been inching closer to the door.

"She's not fucking here, Frank. Get the fuck out."

There was more shuffling. More things being knocked onto the floor. I had to strain my ears to hear him whisper menacingly. "Tell me where that little bitch is right now, or I'm going to kill both of you."

I didn't even breathe.

Mother took a deep breath. She cleared her throat and was speaking a little louder than usual. "She's at Hogwarts. You'll never find her there. She's safe there. She will be safe there."

More things were being knocked around the living room. It was the furniture. He had to be tearing apart the furniture. He was not tearing apart my mother. I grabbed a coat and my shoes from under the bed. I opened the window as quietly as a I could and slipped down the fire escape. She's fine. She's going to be okay. I'm fine. I'm going to be okay.


	6. Chapter 6

I couldn't go back. I had to go forward. I didn't know I was running until I had to stop and bend over and breathe. My mother may have been a shit show, but she tried to help me. She was trying to save me from that psycho. Get to Hogwarts. Hogwarts is where she will be safe. That's my mother said. And I was going to listen to her.

I realized I was close to the Leaky Cauldron. Thank Godric we had been here enough times now that I remembered my way by myself. Mother didn't like picking up my books with me in Diagon Alley. I began walking again, shoving my hands as deep into my coat pockets as I could. They were shaking and not because of the cold. The Leaky Cauldron was in my sights. What was I going to do once I got in there? How could I get to Hogwarts from there? I don't know anyone at Hogwarts. How am I supposed to find help if I don't know where to go or who to talk to.?It was getting darker. Whatever I was going to do, I had to decide fast.

I made my choice, ran across the street and opened the door. The Leaky Cauldron was empty; it was a weeknight. Warmth came rushing into my cheeks, but I didn't smile because of it. I was working so hard not to think of what the scene at my apartment would be right now.

I looked around from left to right hoping to see a familiar face. Stupid. I don't know any witches or wizards. There was no one behind the bar. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to stand still anymore, so I rushed between the tables and out to the alleyway. I tapped on the bricks exactly like you're supposed to. Except maybe a little faster than usually, and I was back out into the cold air. Just keep walking, Amelia. Don't stop walking.

I had walked a far bit down Diagon Alley when a bunch of men came out of a shop together laughing. I barely glanced up at them, wishing I had some gloves and a hat. I just needed to be warm. I need to figure out how I was going to get to Hogwarts.

* * *

Christmas is a busy time in the Potter Family. All the kids are home from Hogwarts. All the kids includes the Weasley kids as well. Every night it seems like the whole crew is off at one of their parents' house causing as much mayhem as possible. The next night they move on to the next house and so on. But Christmas Day is special.

Every one arrives at the Burrow on Christmas Eve night. All the kids in their pjs and sleeping bags. Camping out in the upstairs bedrooms. Not falling asleep until the wee hours of the morning. The grown ups congregate in the living room laughing and drinking and telling stories. Each having the intention of going home and getting a good night's sleep in their own bed, but every year they end up too drunk to apparate or floo back home. So they kip on the couches and the floors.

Christmas morning comes faster than everyone anticipates. Wrapping paper flies across the room. Laughter literally fills the air. It's a happy time.

But, Godric, do I love the minute my kids get back on the Hogwarts Express, and I get ten whole minutes alone with my wife. Ginny. She's great, and she just gets greater every year. I love that woman.

Every year, the men of the Weasley and Potter clans meet in Diagon Alley for drinks at the end of January. And we always end up back at George's old flat playing poker all night. Winter break is so busy; we spend so much time together without getting any real man time. So drinks and poker rolls around. Sometimes cigars too, but don't tell Ginny that.

George was just finishing up a tale of a particular shy boy asking about some products at the shop that would help him catch the attention of a very beautiful girl he knew. We were laughing at George's impersonation of the sweet little guy as we stumbled out of the shop, intending to head towards the apparition point. Ron grabbed my arm and nodded across the alley towards a young woman rushing down the street. I wasn't laughing anymore.

"Ron…"

"Doesn't she seem a little young? Shouldn't she be at school? Why is she out alone? It's almost 11:00!"

"Ron, I know her. She's the one I told you about last week. Something's not right. Come on."

And off we went, following her down the street. As Aurors, we knew how to be stealthy, but we didn't have to try very hard. The girl didn't seem to be paying attention to anything. She was definitely talking to herself. She had to be freezing too. Just a coat on. No hat or scarf. She was heading towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley. Ron grabbed my arm, but I shook him off and started running.

I reached her just before she got more than ten feet down the sketchy street. I grabbed her shoulder in the hopes of stopping her, but she screamed and jumped out of her skin.

"Miss Corner, it's okay! It's me! Harry Potter! We met last week! It's okay. It's okay. Calm down."

She was shaking and breathing heavy. I swear she wasn't even blinking. Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Amelia." She whispered.

"What?"

"Call me Amelia. Miss Corner is my mother." Her whole body convulsed, and she sank to her knees. I winced because I knew it had to hurt. She didn't seem to notice. She just sobbed with her hands covering her face.

I followed her to the ground. "Amelia?" She launched herself into my arms. I just held her why she sobbed. Ron looked on, confused as usual, from a few feet away, keeping an eye on anyone who may appear from down Knockturn.

"Amelia." I said again. "Tell me what happened." I was angry. I knew this girl was a good kid. I'd seen go from house to house, watching little ones. My Aurors reported to me that when she stopped babysitting she floated in and out of different restaurants. Her school work wasn't phenomenal, but you could tell she was trying.

Her mother was shady and difficult to follow. She definitely did drugs. We didn't ever catch her in the act, but one look at her and you knew.

I was pissed. Pissed that this good kid got stuck in a shitty situation. Pissed that someone was holding her back from the one place that made dealing with my shitty place even potentially manageable. Pissed that someone was making her this upset.

She looked up at me, swallowed and wiped her face with her hands. She nodded her head yes. I stood up, pulling Amelia with me.

* * *

There I was, strewn across the ground sobbing. Thanking Godric for Harry Potter. I can't believe I didn't think of him before. Snooping thing he was. He would help. He could help me. I was so relieved to be found. To know that I wasn't alone. I almost wanted to smile. I knew it would be okay. But he has to help my mother. That guy didn't sound like he was going to stop. What if… No I can't go there. I looked up at Mr. Potter. He looked so angry. I knew he needed to know everything.

I gave him a little nod when he asked me to tell him. He pulled me to my feet.

"My mother. She's in trouble. He's going to hurt her. You have to stop him."

Mr. Potter turned around to look at a red-haired man. "Ron, go to their apartment. Find Miss Corner. I want to know everything that happened there tonight."

The red-haired man, Ron, gave a short not and disappeared with a 'pop'.

"Come on, Amelia. We're not going to hang out in Knockturn Alley all night. Let's go somewhere safe."

"Hogwarts? Are we going to Hogwarts?"

"What?"

"My mother tried to warn me. She told me I would be safe at Hogwarts."

"Let's wait, and you can tell me the whole story at once. We're not going to Hogwarts. We're going to go to my mother-in-law's house. Now, have you ever apparated before?"

I shook my head no. Mother didn't do a lot of magic. Just small spells around the house. The drugs drain you of everything you have.

"Okay. Hold on to my arm tightly. Close your eyes. I'll let you know when to open them."

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to stop shaking. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was turning inside out. I wanted it to stop. I felt sick. And suddenly, the feeling was gone. I could feel myself swaying as I stood. Someone grabbed both my arms to steady me. When they let go, I heard Mr. Potter say it was okay to open my eyes. When I did, I was in the most beautiful home I ever saw.


	7. Chapter 7

We sat in the kitchen. Me and Harry Potter and an older red-headed woman. She was bustling about the kitchen cooking and wiping the table and mumbling under her breath about something or another. Mr. Potter had requested some tea for us. He called her 'Mum', but I thought his parents were dead. I was so confused. I couldn't think fast enough to catch up with everything that had happened.

I took one sip of the tea, it was hot, but I drank it anyway. It made me calmer. Wait. Did this old bag drug me?!

"Amelia, let's start at the beginning. What happened tonight?"

I opened my mouth when a loud pop echoed through the room. The red-haired Ron appeared in the kitchen too. He looked flushed. Mr. Potter immediately stood, and they walked out of the room together. I could hear them whispering on the other side of the door, but I couldn't put any of their words together. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what they were saying. After a few minutes, another pop drifted into the kitchen from under the door as Mr. Potter came back in.

"Sorry about that. Now. What happened, Amelia?"

"Is she dead?"

"Amelia."

"Is she? If she's dead, why does it even matter what happened?"

"I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know. There was blood at the apartment, but not anywhere near enough to indicate that she is dead. But we can't find her. That's why I need you to tell me what happened, so we have all the information. That way we can do more to find her. Talk to me, Amelia. I promise, right now my number one priority is keeping you safe, and number two is finding your mom.

* * *

Dealing with missing witches and wizards isn't apart of my typical day as an Auror. Usually, it's filled with way more paperwork than I find necessary, but Hermione always tell me that I need to C.Y.A. and get it all written down.

My preferred day is filled with training the new Aurors. I was never much of a leader or a teacher at Hogwarts. That job was for Harry and Hermione, but I guess it makes sense that I wasn't a leader to my _peers_. But as a Senior Auror, I am one hundred percent a leader for the baby Aurors. Luckily, I really enjoy training them too.

But when Harry has that look on his face, everyone, and I mean _everyone_ , stops and gets on his bandwagon. Just like when he started his mission to save the kids, which he has doing quite successfully over the years.

Harry had mentioned Amelia over two weeks ago, when he first visited her home. He told me what happened. It seemed normal enough, but Harry 'knew' something wasn't right. He followed the girl. He had some mid-level Aurors follow the girl. He was very perturbed for the next week when he couldn't get a real good read on the mother. She was sneaky and shady and harder to track than she should have been. Harry didn't like that.

He continued to wonder about this girl aloud, asking those on her case almost everyday if there was anything knew, anything they could do for her. Nothing.

We all thought Harry was starting to lose his marbles. This girl seemed busy and pretty poor, but more than likely a little bit too slow to hang at Hogwarts. Mom had saved her some heartache in not sending her off to fail and helped them both by the girl working and earning money. If all of us Weasleys had been home-schooled and worked part-time jobs, you better believe we would have had a lot more 'stuff' than we did.

So when Harry pulled me down Diagon Alley, and it hit me who we were following, I knew Harry had in fact not lost his marbles. I knew he was still the same brilliant git I knew and loved.

Immediately after he told me what to do, I apparated directly to the Magical Law Enforcement Department at the Ministry and gathered anyone in the office and on call. One of my trainees found the address to the Corner Apartment and off we went.

The door was almost closed all the way, but not pulled tight into the door jam. The living room was in shambles. Furniture was pushed over on its side and thrown to what was clearly not its proper place. The kitchen table was broke almost in half. In front of where the couch should have been next to the coffee table, was some blood on the floor.

Blood is never a good sign.

It really wasn't all that much. It could have been from a slicing hex or a good punch to the nose. Potentially a head wound. My aurors began processing as much evidence as they could, casting spell after spell, looking for traces of magic, DNA, and any other clue that would lead us to Miss Corner.

I entered what appeared to be her apartment. Clearly, they were poor. The girl has the bare minimum. Only half of her drawers were filled with clothes. Less than half the closet was full. There were two extra pairs of shoes and only about 20 books or so on her shelf. Hermione would be mortified. I'm pretty sure my house has at least 40 books in every single room, including the bathrooms.

I found a duffle bag and filled it with all of Amelia's belongings. It barely even needed an extension charm. That was just sad. I put it in my pocket. I reminded the younger men on how to proceed and apparated to The Burrow.

Harry left the kitchen, and I briefed him quickly.

"So she was either kidnapped, or she ran from someone and is hiding. Either way we have to find her before something worse happens to her."

"Harry, you should this girls room. She has nothing. Her mother has done nothing for her. You should be wanting her away from that woman."

" _Of course_ , I want her away from that woman, but that doesn't mean we want her dead. I want her found, and I want her to get help, but you're right. If I have anything to say about, Amelia will never be in her custody again."

"I have a feeling you will have a say in it. Here's her stuff. I'll let you know if we find anything else."

"Thanks, Ron. I'll keep you updated too." And I left once more.

* * *

"And that's when you found me in Diagon Alley."

"And you're sure that's everything you remember, Amelia?"

"Yes. That's everything." And it was. I couldn't lie to him. How do you like to the guy that literally killed Voldemort. He can probably tell before you even tell the lie. He knows it's coming before it even happens.

"Okay, good. Thank you, Amelia. I'm going to get this information off to Ron, and I am sure that it will help us find her. Now, you must be exhausted, how about I show you a room upstairs and you can crash her tonight, and I'll come get you tomorrow afternoon?"

"Okay." I was twisting my hands together. I was nervous. I didn't want him to leave me here. I didn't want him to leave. There were still things I wanted… things I needed to know. "Mr. Potter?"

Wow. His eyes are really green. He was waiting for me to continue.

"Even if you find her, and even if she's okay, I'm not going back there am I?"

"Nothing is definite yet, but no. I don't think you're going to go back there."

"Oh. Where will I go?"

"Not sure yet, kiddo. We've got a couple of options, but we don't need to think about any of them for a little bit. Now off to bed with you."

"Goodnight, Mr. Potter."

"Goodnight, Amelia. Try not to worry too much. It's my job to find her, and I will."


	8. Chapter 8

When I woke the next morning, a bag full of my belongings was at the foot of the bed. I could smell the most delicious smelling foods drifting up the stairs and under the door. My mouth was watering. I dug through my bag to find some clothes, and tried to find the bathroom. It didn't take too long. It was nice to shower and wash the tears off of my face. I walked down the steps and into the kitchen. I was surprised by the multitude of eyes glancing at me from the table. I was even more surprised at how quickly the eyes turned back to their meal. No one seemed overly concerned at the stranger entering.

"Good morning, dear. Have a seat and dig in!" The older red-haired woman ushered me into a chair next to another redhead. A woman. She was very pretty. She smiled at me as she sipped her tea.

She held out her hand for me to shake. "Hello, there. I'm Ginny. Harry is my husband. It's nice to meet you."

"Amelia." My voice cracked. God, this is why I don't talk to people over the age of nine. Stick with the kids, you don't get as embarrassed.

But Mrs. Potter just smiled and continued on. "This is my father, Arthur. And that's my brother, Percy. They both work at the Ministry. And you met my mother last night. And this my other brother, Bill, and his wife, Fleur." So many redheads. Except the last one. She was blonde, and she was beautiful. Why was everyone here so pretty? I felt even more out of place.

"And somewhere around is my daughter…" but Ginny was cut off by a loud scream coming from somewhere above us.

"MOOOOOOOOOM! I CAN'T FIND MY PURPLE SWEATER. I TOLD YOU TO PACK IT." A thundering sound echoed through the house. A little girl too small to made all that racket burst through the kitchen door. She noticed me and very quickly her face changed from very distraught to bright and cheery. "Oh! Hello! I'm Lily Luna Potter. What's your name?"

I couldn't help but smile. She was cute. I liked her already. Her fiery red hair was long and braided down over her shoulder. Her eyes were a bright green, like Mr. Potter's were. She had freckles all across her cheeks and nose.

I held out my hand to her much more confidently than I had with Ginny. "Hello Lily Luna Potter. My name is Amelia. It's a pleasure to meet you." We shook.

"Amelia. That's a pretty name. Do you go to Hogwarts? I am only eight. So I don't go to Hogwarts, but I want to _so bad_. I've been thinking really hard about magic, so maybe they'll ask me to start early! My brothers go to Hogwarts. Do you have any brothers?"

I shook my head. This was my comfort zone. I can talk to kids. "No brothers for me. And I don't go to Hogwarts. I learn about magic at home."

"By yourself?! What's the fun in that? Did you know there are _ghosts_ at Hogwarts?" Her eyes were huge, like this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her entire life.

"I did not know that there were ghosts at Hogwarts. That's brilliant. Do you want to sit next to me, Lily? I think it's breakfast time."

"Yeah, sure." Lily pulled out the chair and sat down with me. She chattered a lot throughout breakfast. She told lots of stories about her 'dumb brothers' who wouldn't hide her in their trunks. She also told stories about her many uncles. I really couldn't keep track of any more redheads. When she finished eating, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back up the steps.

"Come _on_ , Amelia. We have to find my purple sweater, and then we're going to play Marauders. It's the best game in the _whole world_."

* * *

I turned and waited for the kitchen door to open when I heard the familiar sound of apparition come from the front door. Harry came through the door, kissed my cheek and then mum's. He sat at the table and nodded his thanks for the steaming cup of coffee mum handed him. He took a big gulp before he sighed and looked around.

"Where is Amelia? Wait, why is it so quiet? Isn't Lily here?"

You might think this is funny, but that's our Lily. She's loud. She's boisterous. She makes her presence known. Usually by name he would have accosted her father demanding his love and affection until someone else came along whom she could wrap around her cute little finger. We're definitely in trouble with that one.

"Both the girls are upstairs in the playroom. They've been in there all morning. Barely made a peep."

"Poor, Amelia."

"No, Harry. She loves it. She came down to the kitchen and looked like she might cry from all the people. She looked like she just walked through a ghost. Comfortable, worried. But the second Lily came in, she was smiling, laughing, talking. It was awesome."

Harry's eyes widened and a small grin spread on his face. Godric, is my husband hot.

"You said she babysat a lot, and I think I know why. She is brilliant with Lily. She actually got Lily to eat breakfast."

Harry actually spit his coffee out of his mouth and looked at mum for confirmation.

"Harry, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Lily didn't even fight her. She just sat down and ate. I have truly witnessed a miracle."

Lily. Dear, sweet, slightly insane Lily. I love my little girl, but she is an odd little duck. She has been boycotting breakfast for four and a half years. Ever since James went off to Hogwarts. When it first started, she had no explanation of why her protest was to not eat breakfast. She wanted to go to Hogwarts too, and when she couldn't, she decided she wasn't going to eat breakfast anymore until she was allowed to go.

Now that she's eight, her explanation is that breakfast is to start your morning off right, but she is not at Hogwarts. Her mornings will never be right until she is at Hogwarts. So breakfast has no point. Did I mention that she's eight?

"Lily ate breakfast. Bloody hell." I smacked Harry at the same time mum threw a towel at him from across the table. But we all laughed.

"Did you find Amelia's mum?" I was almost afraid to know the answer to this. Bad news was common for Harry's field.

"No." He looked pained. "But we have a lead. Ron found a note in Amelia's bed. It says, if he doesn't receive payment he's going to kill her."

* * *

I was lucky that Lily didn't hear the apparition sound like I did. I excused myself, claiming I needed the bathroom and snuck down the stairs as quietly as possible.

I listened through the door. "Did you find Amelia's mum?"

I could feel my heart stop beating. And when Mr. Potter answered her, my body froze. It went cold. It was me he wanted. But he was going to kill my mother if he didn't get me. I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't live for the rest of my life knowing I was the reason my mother died. She had already taken too much from me. I couldn't let her take anymore. I was going to stop this. I snuck back up the steps a little bit and came back down loudly so they could hear me coming. I could tell they had must clammed up, when I cam into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter. Did you find my mother?"

"No, not yet, Amelia, but we're still looking." Liar. I couldn't blame him. I would lie to me too.

"Oh. Okay. I was wondering if it was possible to go back to the apartment sometime. I, uh, had a secret hiding spot. I'm afraid…"

"Ron."

"Right. Ron didn't find it. Also, I have a bank account, and I would like to make a withdrawal."

All the adults looked around at each other. I could see them thinking that Lily had brought me out of my shell. And maybe she did, but also I was on a mission.

Mr. Potter nodded his head and said we could go after lunch. I almost didn't even feel bad for what I was about to do to him. I needed to save my mother.


	9. Chapter 9

We at lunch in the kitchen, where Lily continued to talk my ear off. It was hard for me to pay attention though. I was trying to formulate my plan. So many things could go terribly wrong, but in that moment, I didn't care one bit. I was going to find her. She was going to be okay, and then I wouldn't have to see her again. It would be the end. The happiest ending the two of us could get with each other.

After lunch, Mr. Potter beckoned me to follow.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Oh Lily. She is too precious. Her eyes were too big for her face. She looked so concerned.

"I have to go back to my house for a little bit, Lily. I left something there I need."

"Will you be safe?" How did she… This girl was too smart for her own good. I couldn't tell if she knew what I was up to or if she knew what my life had been like before.

"Yes, Lily. Your dad is coming! How much safer could I be?" This almost seemed to placate her.

She looked like she was considering this for a moment longer. "Okay. But don't do anything stupid, Amelia. You'll be so grounded if you do."

I could see Ginny roll her eyes behind Lily. I tried not to cry, or smile. I was about to do something stupid. All I did was hug the little girl and run my hand through her hands once. I have a small wave to everyone else, and then I followed Mr. Potter to the front step.

I was starting to feel guilty. These people are wonderful. They're kind, and I know they're good parents. Look how great Lily is. Could I do this to him right now? Could I do this to myself? Was I brave enough? Turns out, it didn't matter. The choice was made for me.

We had just left the bank, I had taken out all of my money. It was over two thousand pounds. Mr. Potter raised his eyebrows when I asked for all of it, but I just shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't going to be coming back here again it seemed like. Why wouldn't I take all of my money?

We started walking down the street towards my apartment. We reached the door to the building, Mr. Potter waved his wand, and the door swung open. We entered. The elevator wasn't working. So we took the stairs. Three flights wasn't that bad. I had done it before. We reached the door. I was shaking. Was it gong to be in shambles still, had they cleaned up?

I pulled out my key to the apartment and turned the lock. With one final deep breath, I pushed the door open.

They had cleaned up. Everything looked like it was in its exact right place in the apartment. All of the furniture, our photos, everything. I was almost scared to touch anything. I walked through the living room to the kitchen. I placed my hands on the kitchen table. I had been sitting here. My breathing was heavy and uneven. I tried to regain control of it, but I couldn't, so I stepped away. Why did she tell me to hide? I had my wand, I could have helped.

My bedroom door was shut. So I entered it slowly. I could hear Mr. Potter. He wanted to give me space, but he also wanted to keep an eye on me. I glanced around the room. Everything was in its place. I knelt down on my knees and finally laid on my stomach. I peered under my bed. I put out my hand and found the floorboard. I lifted it up and extracted two things: my journal and my first toy. The first had been give to me at Christmas by one of the mother's I babysat for. The second was given to me by Uncle Michael. My mother had no idea that I still had it.

I just laid there for another minute clutching them to my chest. I opened the journal and found a pen under the bed too. I wrote one final entry.

I was just about finished the last sentence when I heard a noise come from my closet. I jumped a foot in the air. The door started to open. Slowly. Quietly. It was him. He looked dirty and old. I was frozen. I couldn't move. He smiled at me. It was evil. It wasn't comforting like Ginny's or Mr. Potter's. It was terrifying. Movement came back to my body, and I screamed. Kicking and hitting, he pulled me up by the collar of my jacket. He climbed through my window and started to drag me through behind him.

Mr. Potter had run into the room, but my captor was throwing curse after curse at him. Wait, this guy was a wizard? Did the Aurors even know that? Mr. Potter was ducking and throwing up shields left and right, but he couldn't send many curses back. I knew he didn't want to hit me. We were out on the fire escape when I felt it. The terrible feeling of apparition.

* * *

"FUCK!" I knew other Aurors were already on their way. And I was super glad I put a trace on that girl. I did it though because I though she might be a runner. I waited thirty seconds after they disappeared, concentrated on Amelia, and I disappeared too.

I appeared in a dingy alleyway somewhere in London. I quickly exited and caught the back of the girl's brown hair disappear down a different side street. I started running. I stopped at the corner and peered down. I could see them. Shit, that guy was big. There was no way she could fight him off without a wand. Which was in my back pocket. I had picked it up. The more wands the better.

I could see him look up and down the street and open the door to one of the town homes. In they went, and I started running again. But I stopped at the door, pulled out an Extendable Ear, and let the end slide under the door.

"Get up, bitch. If you want your dear mother to stay alive, you better get up right now." I could hear Amelia crying. They weren't in the front room, but if I entered he might see me. He might freak out and hurt her. If she wasn't already hurt. I should have waited for back up, but that was never my style.

"Where is she? Where is my mother? How do I know she's okay? I'm not giving you anything until I know she's okay."

"You're going to give me whatever I want. Do you hear me? _Whatever_ I want."

I could hear them struggling. No more waiting. Her crying got louder as I silently unlocked the door and slipped inside. I crept as fast as I could down the hall towards the back of the house.

"Stop it. Stop. No. Stop. Don't. Don't touch me." I barged through the door and starting firing spell after spell at him. He hit the floor, but so did Amelia.

I watched her try to cover her bare chest with her hands, and she slid down the wall and buried her face into her knees, sobbing. I quickly took off my jacket and covered her shoulders. I was silently thanking Godric that her pants were still on. I urged her to put her arms through. She was shaking so hard I had to help. I zipped up the front of it and turned to secure this son of a bitch. By the time he was secured, I heard pops coming from the front of the house.

"Back here." I shouted. Ron entered the kitchen first. One look at Amelia, and he levitated the son of the bitch out of the room. When the next Auror came in, I told him to search the house to find Miss Corner. I turned back to Amelia who was still shaking and crying. If only I had been faster. I scooped her up off the floor. I took everything I had not to cry too. This was my fault.


	10. Chapter 10

I could see the hurt in his eyes as he carried her into the kitchen. She was shaking something awful. I could tell she had been crying a lot, and there seemed to be no signs of her stopping. Somehow she looked smaller than even Lily in his arms. Lily. I'm glad mum took her out for the afternoon. I put the teapot on the stove and added water. I pulled out a chair for her, and when Harry tried to sit her in it, she started kicking and crying harder. We looked at each other. This was not good. Harry just sat down instead continuing to hold her. I noticed she was wearing his jacket and my heart shattered. This poor girl. This poor sweet girl.

"Harry, I'm going to try to get Hermione over here." His face became even grimmer, but he just nodded.

* * *

I don't remember much in between Mr. Potter bursting through the door and saving me and waking up the next day back in my bed at the Burrow. The nightmare still fresh on my mind as I opened my eyes and realized Ginny was holding my hand. She shushed me and told me it was okay. She ran her fingers through my hair so lightly I wasn't sure it was even happening. I slowly relaxed my breathing. My heart rate slowed. I took a deep breath and looked straight into her eyes. There were tears in them.

"They found your mum. She's okay. She's in St. Mungo's recovering, but she's going to be okay. You can go see her tomorrow if you want, but you don't have to."

I nodded my head. Acknowledging that Ginny spoke, but not indicating any emotions I felt about this. We sat in silence for a little while.

"Amelia, are you hungry? Mum has been cooking up a storm, and I would be more than happy to bring something up for you."

Food. There's a thought. The second Ginny said 'hungry' I could feel my stomach clench and roll over as if it was trying to ingest itself. I simply nodded again. Ginny squeezed my hand and leaned over to kiss my forehead. She stood and exited the room, closing the door behind her.

I rolled over onto my side and put my hands under my head. I couldn't feel any bruising. Someone had obviously healed me because there is no way he touched me like that and didn't leave a mark. I shuddered. I couldn't physically feel the pain, but I could remember his cold hands touching me roughly ignoring my cries of protest. His dry lips settling for my neck when I wouldn't keep my head still. I brought my knees into my chest and curled up even smaller. Thank Godric that Mr. Potter was there with me. I didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't been there.

* * *

Being the youngest really stinks. After Daddy took Amelia on a trip, I didn't get to see her again for a long time, which was very sad. I was tired of my only friends being my cousins. Most of them were bigger and at Hogwarts now anyway. I wasn't allowed to stay and Grandmum's house either, which next to Hogwarts was one of my favorite places. The grown-ups were hiding something from me. I didn't like it. Not one bit. I wanted to see Amelia. Mum said she was sick and needed to left alone so she could feel better. That's why I was staying with Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. Mum was helping Amelia feel better. I was not a baby. I was almost grown up. I could help too.

So I snuck into the living room, climbed on the back of the couch to reach the Floo Powder. I could do this without a grown up! I threw it into the fireplace and shouted. "THE BURROW!"

* * *

I was alone at the Burrow. Molly was off picking up some groceries. Arthur was at work. None of their kids were visiting today. I hadn't seen Mr. Potter since that day. Which was very sad for me. I wanted to thank him. Whenever I asked Ginny where he was, she gave very vague answers about him being busy at work. Ginny was off talking to their friend Hermione. She would be over later than day to talk to me. I wasn't really sure why, but Ginny kept telling me that Hermione was great. Based on what I read from my history book, I knew Ginny was probably right.

Suddenly I heard a big crash from the living room and a high pitched "OW!". I jumped out of the bed and grabbed my wand. Did I venture down to see what was happening? Did I pretend I hadn't heard it and act like I wasn't here? I hadn't left my room since that day. Only to use the restroom. I peered out the door and down the steps, but of course I could see nothing. Damn turny steps. I started to slowly descend, and as I got closer to the living room I could hear grumblings and sniffles.

There she was sitting on the ground holding her leg with blood dripping out from under her hands. Lily Luna Potter.

I rushed over to her. There were tears in her eyes, but they lit up when they saw me. "Amelia!" she whispered.

I brushed her hair out of her eyes and moved her hands to see how bad the cut was. It wasn't terrible. I shushed her and told her as much. I scooped her up into my arms, my breath catching as I realized Lily's father had scooped me up the same way only a week ago. I ignored the pang in my stomach and carried her into the kitchen. I turned on the water and found a towel from the drawer. I wet it and began wiping the blood from Lily's leg and applying pressure to the cut. It was a little deeper than I first thought and kept holding the towel there. After a couple minutes, I told Lily to reach over and wet another towel. I replaced the old one, throwing it into the sink, letting the running water rinse it out. I grabbed the notepad Molly usually wrote her grocery list on and began penning a note.

 _Mr. Potter,_

 _I am very sorry to bother you at work. Lily showed up in the living room and seems to have cut her leg. She's okay, but I think it's too much to let it heal the Muggle way, and I don't know very much about healing. No one else is here, and I'm not sure exactly where to find them. I would floo you, but I think Lily would not be happy if I left her alone. She's a little upset._

 _Please come to the Burrow._

 _Amelia_

I didn't know how far the Ministry was or how long it would take for the letter to reach Mr. Potter. I also didn't know how much longer it would be until someone else returned home. I got Lily to stop crying, and she even reached into the cabinet and got us some cookies. She had to feed them to me while I held the towel to her leg. I was just placing the third towel onto her leg, as the second was saturated with her blood, when a pop echoed through the kitchen. Lily and I both screamed. It was Mr. Potter.

"Lily!" He rushed over and put his hands on top of mine, gently pulling back the towel. He winced a little bit at the sight of the gash, but whipped out his wand and muttered something I couldn't quite hear. I could see the cut start to mend. It was almost like her leg just zipped itself up. Harry hugged her tightly and stroked her hair. It was sweet. I hadn't seen too many fathers with their daughters. He pulled away and kissed her forehead.

Then he let go and pulled me into a very similar hug. I was stiff at first, but slowly melted and wrapped my arms around his back and held on tightly. I didn't want to let go, but when he pulled away, he kissed my forehead too.

He patted the counter next to Lily, and I hopped up. Mr. Potter vanished the bloody towels out of the sink and turned the water off. He waved his wand and cleaned the blood off of us. I was thankful. I was just starting to feel a little queasy. It was more blood than I was comfortable with.

That night, Lily got quite the talking to about using the Floo by herself.

I got lots of hugs from vary members of the Potter and Weasley families, thanking me for being there for Lily. Lily being the most prominent one. Hugging me every chance she got. As the sky grew so dark it was almost black, she demanded a sleepover. She led me up the steps where we both changed into our pjs, and she climbed into my bed and pulled me in with her.

"I don't have a sister," she whispered to me in the dark. "But I think I would like for you to be mine now."

I just hugged her closer and told her to close her eyes, she had had a very long day, and so did I.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up the next morning with a mouth full of red hair. A coughed a little trying to get it out of my mouth and sat up slowly, trying not to wake Lily. She really did have a rough day yesterday; she could use a lie in.

I slipped on a big jumper over my pjs and started down the stairs. The kitchen was surprisingly quiet. When I entered, only Mr. Potter was there. He was making some pancakes over the stove. It smelled delicious. I sat down at the table.

Soon the pancakes were done, and I noticed there were chocolate chips in them. They were heavenly. I could feel Mr. Potter looking at me, and I looked back up at him.

"Amelia…"

I interrupted him. "Thank you."

"Thank you? For what?"

I swallowed what was left of my pancake. "For everything. For letting me stay here when I had nowhere else to go. For bringing me to my apartment when I wanted to go. For following me that day. For saving me from that, that thing. I can't even call him a person. For taking care of me after when I couldn't take care of myself. For saying whatever you did to Ginny that made her want to help me too. For Lily. Thank you so much for Lily. She's wonderful. Thank you for not letting him…" I swallowed again. This was harder than I thought it would be. Talking about it. "If you hadn't been there, he would have raped me. I know he would have. I am lucky that you were there, and that he didn't. I am so lucky that you stopped him."

I could see Mr. Potter trying to blink away some emotion in his eyes. He stood and walked back over to me and hugged me like he did the day before. He was warm and comforting. He was hugging me like I hugged Lily the day before.

"Amelia. I am so sorry. I am sorry for not being fast enough to stop him from taking you. I'm sorry that he touched you at all. He shouldn't have been able to. I should have got to you sooner. I should have been able to protect. And I shouldn't have hid from you all week when I felt guilty. I should have been here to help you."

I was crying by this point. I didn't know what it was life to have a father, but maybe this was it.

"You are a great kid, Amelia. So great, despite all the shit you dealt with growing up. You have every reason to hate people. Every reason to hate me. To hate anyone you come into contact with and you don't. Instead you saved my daughter from being hurt and alone from who knows how long. But I left you hurt and alone. And I will never forgive myself for that."

I hugged him harder and buried my head into his chest. I knew I was getting his shirt all wet, but in that moment I just needed someone to help me stand up. I was just learning how to accept affection. How to accept someone caring about you more than they care about themselves.

I let go and wiped my eyes. I put my hands on my hips like I had seen Ginny do to him. "Well, you better forgive yourself, Mr. Potter. Because I already have. There was never anything to forgive. You didn't leave me alone. You left me with Ginny and Lily and Molly. And they did everything they could and more. I am forever in debt to you and your family. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. I'd still be in that apartment. Or I would have been kidnapped and never found. Or I would be dead. But I wouldn't be here. Alive. Happy."

"Harry." He wiped his own eyes.

"What?"

"I'm not old enough to be Mr. Potter, I hope. And I think we've gone through more than enough that you have earned the right to call me Harry." He gently guided me back to my seat and put some more pancakes on my plate.

"Oh. Okay. I can do that… Harry." It felt funny in my mouth when I said it, but he smiled.

"Hermione is finally coming over today to talk to you. I have a feeling she's going to love you. Everyone does." My eyes widened. Loved me? They loved me. I guess it made sense. I love them. Suddenly, I remembered that these wonderful people weren't really my family. What was going to happen now? I wasn't going back with my mother. I would rather be alone than drug back into that world.

I cleared my throat, and Harry looked at me.

"What's going to happen to me now?" I looked down at my plate. Don't make eye contact. It will hurt more when he sends you away.

"Well…" Here it comes. The big let down. Don't cry. Don't cry, Amelia. "How would you like to come stay with us? Me and Ginny, I mean. And Lily. At our house. Not the Burrow."

I looked up, confused.

"Look, Amelia. I have been doing this a long time, and no kid has ever affected me the way that you do. I can't stand the idea of you hurt or alone or unprotected. Not for a second. Ginny agrees with me. So we want you to stay with us."

"Like move in with you? _Live_ with you guys? Like… like a family?" Damn it. I was crying.

"No, not _like_ a family. Actually a family. We want you to be apart of our family. You basically already are. We love you. Lily loves you. Molly and Arthur love you. All that's left is the boys, and they're easy to please. Maybe you can even go to Hogwarts with them next year if you want."

Damn it. I was really crying now. I just nodded my head. Harry smiled again. Family. A real family. I was going to be Lily's sister after all.

* * *

When Harry, Ginny, and Ron told me about her, they never mentioned how pretty she was. That was one of the first things I noticed. I also noticed that she didn't know how pretty she was. He brown hair was long. It was a little wavy and seemed to have a habit of getting in her face. She kept tucking it behind her ear.

Her eyes were brown, a very light brown. And her smile was rare, but it was radiant. It lit up her face like a Christmas tree. I understood why everyone else was so intent on making her happy. So she would smile more.

I held out my hand to her. "Hello, Amelia. I'm Hermione Weasley, but please just Hermione."

"Hello." She shook my hand. She was soft-spoken. I knew why Lily liked her so much too. Lily could talk without much interruption.

"I hope it's okay that Harry, Ron, and Ginny talked to me about you. All good things I promise." I smiled, and gave me a small smile back. "Ginny especially thought we might relate a little bit. She told me what that man did to you, and I'm very, very sorry it happened. But believe me, I know that sorry doesn't make it better."

Her eyes looked up at me with a questioning look in them. I lifted the sleeve to my jumper and showed her the scars left by Bellatrix. She openly gasped and then covered her mouth with her hand.

"It's okay. Don't worry. I understand. It's hard to believe at first that someone exists that is so evil that they would do this to another person. These scars, they're nothing to me anymore, but it's how I was scarred on the inside that really matters."

She wasn't looking at me, but I knew she was listening, so I kept going. "Amelia, I just wanted to come tell you that, the fear and pain you're feeling is one hundred percent okay because it's how you feel. Don't let anyone tell you how to feel or how to heal. You are you and you will grow and change in your own way, whatever that may be. But I have talked to a lot of people about their scars." I saw her glance at my arm again. "No. Not those scars. The ones here." I gently leaned over and put my hand over her heart. I have talked to a lot of people about _those_ scars. And talking seems to be the key. Hiding it, keeping it all in is what keeps the hurt inside you. But if you can talk about it, open up to someone who means something to you, you will feel different. I won't say you'll feel better because you may not, not for a while anyway. But you'll feel different. And sometimes different can save you."

She put her hand on top of mine over her heart. She nodded her head and thanked me. I pulled her into a hug. She seemed surprised, but recovered. It was like hugging Harry all those years ago. Like he didn't know what to do. Neither did Amelia, but like Harry, she would learn.

"Hey. Smile, kid. I heard you're basically a Potter now. Which means you're basically a Weasley. Which means, we're family. And family is everything. You can come to me at any time okay? For anything."

Amelia nodded again. I hugged her again. I smiled, maybe we all need to be more like Harry. Always trying to be the hero.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry and Ginny made adjusting to life at Grimmauld Place as easy as possible. After my talk with Hermione, they asked if I wanted to come see my new home, which of course I agreed to. It was beautiful. Ginny told me that it used to belong to Harry's godfather and was pretty much a dump. It was beautiful now. Short of tearing the whole place down and starting over, they made everything bright and new and cozy. It felt like a home. Not a place where you slept and kept your things.

My bedroom was on the second floor next to Lily's. Across the hall were Albus's and James's bedrooms. I was nervous about them. I had these new 'family members' I had never met. I wasn't sure how well they would accept me. Harry and Ginny tried to reassure me, but it just wasn't something I would be sure about until we met. Lily told me all about them though. Well, basically she told me boys are no fun, and they smell. I had very little experience with boys over the age of eight, so I was inclined to agree with her.

As March, approached quickly Harry, Ginny, and I agreed that I would continue being homeschooled for my fourth year of magical education. Ginny helped me a lot though, and things began to make more sense. The library helped me loads, and my grades picked up fairly quickly. I could go visit Hogwarts in the spring and decide whether I wanted to continue learning at home, or begin Hogwarts. I had already made up my mind, but Ginny was firm that I should wait until I saw it.

Lily and I were two peas in a pod. Ginny even let us go down to the park a few blocks down by ourselves. It was still chilly, so we never stayed long, but it was fun to run around, swing on the swings, and just be a kid. I didn't know what that was like.

I took Hermione's advice and talked to Ginny about my life before that day. I couldn't talk about that day. The one time I thanked Harry was more than enough talking about it. Ginny was wonderful, comforting, and empathetic. She didn't pressure me to visit my mother, wherever she was, and I was glad. I wasn't ready to see her. I wanted to move forward, not back.

Easter was suddenly approaching very fast, and the moment was coming where I would meet Albus and James. I asked Ginny and Lily how to make a good impression. Ginny told me to be myself. Thanks, Gin. Helpful.

Lily said, "What's a good expression? They're boys, who cares what they think." Also helpful. Finally, I went to Harry. He was a boy once. He could help me.

He was in the library one night, leaning over a bunch of paperwork from the office.

"Harry?" He mumbled something and barely looked up. I stifled my laugh. He hated paperwork. Went on and on about how much he hated it actually, but it always sucked him in. Distracting him from everything else.

I realized there was a very good opportunity here in this moment. Something I never would have entertained as a fun idea before. But now I was happy. And happy people liked to have fun.

I tiptoed into the library and picked up a thick tomb off of one of the tables. I snuck around to the back of his chair; he still hadn't realized I was even in the room. Yup. Definitely good and distracted. I creeped closer and closer until there was only inches between me and the back of his chair. I leaned over a little, lifted the book to my eye level and dropped it.

The bang was so loud it seemed deafening. Harry screamed and fell out of the chair. I laughed. I had never laughed so hard in my life. I fell to the floor too, clutching my stomach, completely unable to breathe. Harry looked at me in complete disbelief. I could hear footsteps running down the fall, and Ginny appeared. She quickly gathered what happened and was laughing too. Finally, Harry joined in. I had to wipe the tears from my eyes.

I tried to say sorry but really I just sounded like a snake because I couldn't get the full word out.

Finally, I could breathe again, but I just stayed on the floor, laying there, looking up at the ceiling. This is how it's supposed to be.

"You guys are nuts." Ginny said as she turned around and went back to whatever she was doing.

Harry stood and held out his hand for me and pulled me to my feet. "Can I assume you didn't come in here _just_ to scare the shit out of me?"

I have to put my hand over my mouth to stop from laughing again. I was afraid I might not be able to stop again. I shook my head and took a deep breath. Harry sat back in his chair, and I hopped up on the desk, my feet dangling in the air.

"I asked Ginny and Lily, but they weren't super helpful. How do I… I want James and Albus… What if they don't like me?!"

"Amelia, they're going to love you."

"How do you know that? What if they don't? To them I'm just some random stranger who has appeared in their life. Taking up time and attention that is rightfully theirs."

Harry took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He sighed and returned his glasses to his face.

"Okay look. I'm pretty much almost honest with you so hear it goes. We wrote to them and without revealing too much told them about you. This isn't going to be a surprise. Albus wrote back. He was sort of indifferent. Which is just the kind of kid he is. He doesn't show a lot of emotion, but honestly, if you do something to him like you just did to me, you'll be good in his books. As long as you can take a little pranking back."

I nodded. This made sense. Don't be serious. Don't be too worried. Albus was quiet but liked to have fun. Ginny had told me as much about him. I could do that. I could be fun. Lily thought I was fun.

Harry watched me absorb this and moved on to James. "James… you have to understand that James has been a difficult child since the very moment he was conceived. Ginny had morning sickness all day, for nine months. And that was easy compared to what he was like when he came out."

I laughed, and then realized, I knew nothing about what I was like as a fetus. Or a baby really. My mother wasn't one for story time.

"James responded to out letter, basically upset that we let someone in who he didn't know. I think he was just sort of upset in the sense that he felt like his opinion didn't matter, but he values Lily's opinion more than any one else's in the world. And he knows she loves you, which I think placated him a bit. To get to James, you have to just keep building the relationship you have with Lily. He will follow suit. I promise.

I nodded again. So he was a protective big brother who loved his sister. Okay. I can deal with that too. I thought about what Harry said for a while, my legs kicking against the drawers of the desk.

"Harry? Can we go to Diagon Alley? I would like to get them something. Like a thank you gift. Or a welcome home gift. Something like that."

"Amelia, you don't have to do that. They're going to love you."

"I know I don't have to, but it will make me feel better."

"Okay. Sure. How about tomorrow? I can go in to work a little late."

I smiled. Harry smiled back. I had been smiling a lot recently. And laughing. It felt really good to smile and laugh. I nodded and hugged him. I had been hugging a lot recently too.

Harry ruffled my hair and kissed my cheek. Then he plastered a fake annoyed look on his face. "No out you mongrel! Can't you see I'm trying to work here?" But he couldn't keep a straight face. I rolled my eyes and jumped off the desk.

"Thanks, Harry. You're the best."

"I know." I scoffed at him.

* * *

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, making it extra messy. I could tell by how dark it was that we were approaching the end of our journey on the Hogwarts Express. I wasn't dreading this break, but I wasn't looking forward to it either. Mum made sure to tell me to get all my homework done before I came home. This was family time. Family. I thought after Lily our family was complete but apparently not.

I knew I was being a git. Obviously, if Dad discovered her through work, her life wasn't pleasant. She needed a family, and we were a really great family. But they were _my_ family. I wasn't sure I was ready to share them with a stranger.

Especially Lily. I wrote home to Lily more than anyone else. She writes back, but not well. She seemed to really like this Amelia. That spoke well for her, but Lily was only eight. But I always relied on Lily's opinion… why would I hesitate now?

I sighed again. This was too much to think about. I guess I would meet her soon enough. I just didn't know if I wanted her to be as great as everyone was telling me, or if I wanted her to be awful.


	13. Chapter 13

Albus and I got off the train together. I looked around for everyone, but Albus and I saw just Dad waiting for us. He smiled and Albus ran into his arms, dropping his trunk behind him. I rolled my eyes at him. He was almost thirteen years old and borderline too old for that. I calmly picked up his trunk and drug over to Dad. Where we shook hands and clapped our free hand on each others backs. Much more mature and manly than Al.

I noticed how happy Dad looked. Usually he hated being out in public like this. Even at the train station, people tended to bother him. But today he seemed totally unconcerned. In fact, he happily shrunk our trunks and put them in his pockets, slung an arm around each of us and led us out to the to the street.

We walked about a block talking aimlessly, mostly Al talked about himself, catching Dad up on the past couple months of his second year at Hogwarts. I nodded and smiled and laughed where appropriate, but I already felt like things were different in the Potter Family.

Dad pulled us into a dark alley, held on to each of our arms and with a loud crack, we disappeared.

We had barely landed in the foyer when Al was off running to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes again. Dad and I looked at each other and chuckled. He took out our trunks from his pocket, and together we brought them upstairs to me and Al's rooms.

I noticed a door across the hall had a sign on it in Lily's very recognizable written. 'Amelia's Room'. There were butterflies and birds around it. I sighed. Different. Things were definitely different.

Dad leaned a shoulder against the wall and looked at me. He sighed too.

"James…"

"I know, Dad. I'm not… mad. It's just odd. I don't know how to be. This is weird."

"James, that's what I want to tell you. It's as weird as you make. She's a great kid. A little sad and a little shy. But she's great. And you know, I was her once."

I nodded my head. I knew dad didn't have the greatest upbringing for a lot of reasons. The people who took care of him, a phrase I use lightly, didn't love him. They didn't want him.

"She's your age, James. I think for the first time ever she sort of has a family, and I'm not saying it to make you feel guilty about your uncertainty. I'm saying it because I don't think she needs a brother, but I think she could really use a friend. I don't think she's had much of those in her life either."

Huh. A friend? That's definitely a thought. Interesting.

"Come on. Let's go say hello. You don't have to be anything but James tonight, okay?"

"Okay, Dad." He slung his arm around me again and down the stairs we went.

* * *

When Harry left to go pick up Albus and James, my nerves really fired up. I felt my hands wringing themselves, desperately trying to make this nauseous feeling go away. Ginny put her hand on my shoulder and smiled. That helped a little bit.

With Lily's help, we started baking some cookies. Which was definitely a great distraction to me. However, it was all too soon when we heard a loud crack from the front of the house. Suddenly a young boy appeared in the kitchen smiling. His hair was dark and cut short. Like he didn't like to muck with it. His glasses were sliding down his nose, and his eyes were green just like Harry's. He ran over and hugged Ginny, who kissed the top of his head and gave him a good squeeze. He went over to Lily, ruffled her hair, and stole the cookie right out of her hand.

"Hey! I made that for me, Al!"

"Sorry, Lil. I'm starved." He turned to me. He was still smiling, but he seemed a little unsure. He popped the whole cookie in his mouth, chewed for a second, and wrapped his arms around me too. I was shocked, to put it mildly, but I quickly recovered and hugged him back lightly. He was only an inch or two shorter than me.

"I like you, Amelia." He said with crumbs falling out of his mouth. He smiled and continued. "Mom's rubbish at baking, and Lily thinks its funny to add salt behind her back, so I know these cookies were mostly you. You're good in my book." He sat at the counter and reached for another cookie.

Ginny and I just looked at each other, eyes wide. Is this what boys were like? Lily took it all in stride and sat next to him. He started regaling wild stories of Hogwarts paintings and a Giant Squid. I was very confused.

The kitchen to door opened again and Harry walked in with another boy under his arm. This must be James. His hair was much longer than his brother's. More like Harry's. Messy and wild. James didn't have glasses though, and his eyes were a soft blue, not green. James though was just a smidge taller than Harry and therefore, would probably tower over me. They were smiling as they came in, but I noticed James's drop a little bit when he saw me. He recovered though and held out his hand to me.

"Hi. I'm James." We shook.

"Hi. Amelia." I smiled because his hand was warm. We locked eyes, but then looked away.

"Hey James. Amelia _bakes_." More crumbs went flying.

"No way!" James took a cookie too. His eyes widened. "This is actually _good_."

"Hey!" chorused Ginny and Lily. Harry laughed. I blushed. James and Albus just took a couple more cookies each.

Luckily, the next hour went by quickly without me having to talk much. James and Albus caught everyone up on what had been happening at Hogwarts. Albus blushed bright scarlet when James said he had a crush on a certain Hufflepuff girl. Harry's eyes twinkled, but suddenly stopped when Lily spoke up from her spot under my arm, curled up like a ball.

"Wait. That's not far. Albus is only _twelve_. Daddy, you said I can't like boys until I'm _thirty_." I covered my laugh with a loud cough. James and I made eye contact, and he started 'coughing' too.

Harry sputtered over his words, and Ginny chimed with a mischievous look in her eyes. "Ask Daddy how old I was when I had a crush on _him_." Lily's eyes were so wide I thought they were going to pop right out of her head.

Eventually, everyone settled down, and Lily started to snooze, half on my lap and half under my arm. The clock struck eleven and everyone decided it was time for bed. James stood and started towards me right when I scooped up Lily. She wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled closer. She was way longer than she was heavy. Her legs dangling behind me.

James seemed surprised, but followed me up the steps. Harry and Ginny went first, followed by Albus and then me with Lily. Ginny and Harry hugged Albus and sent him off to his room. They each kissed Lily's forehead and my cheek. I turned the other way down the hall. I heard 'goodnight' whispered by James, and suddenly he was behind me again. He reached around me and opened the door to Lily's room, so I didn't have to disturb her. He reached the bed first and pulled down the covered. I laid her down gently, and we each started to take off one of her shoes. We looked at each other and let out a loud breath, indicating we thought it was funny without waking her up.

We slipped out of the room, and James shut the door with out a sound. He beckoned me down the hall towards my room, and I followed. I opened my door, and he followed me in.

I just looked at him for a second, and he cleared his throat quietly.

"Uhm. So. I just wanted to tell you, that I think you're, uhm, nice. And you really do bake delicious cookies. And I know I wasn't super welcoming before. It's not you I promise, I would be like that to anyone. No, that didn't come out right. What I mean to say is…"

"This is weird?" I offer him.

"Yes!" He seems relieved. "This is odd. I know my dad. And my mum. I know you _must_ be great. I just… am still kind of in shock." He ran his hand through his hair.

"Me too." I whisper. He looks at me confused. This time I clear my throat. "I feel like one day, I was doing homework in my kitchen, and the next minute I was climbing out the window trying to escape from a…" I trailed off.

James just nodded though, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the rest.

"Look, James. I was really surprised when your Dad told me that him and your mum wanted me to stick around. I do not appear to be like the rest of you. You're all so… happy and loud and accepting and _interesting_ and seemingly crazy intelligent. I know this is crazy. I know it. And I'm really sorry."

He seemed to be slightly unsettled as I spoke, but when I apologized his eyes flashed. "Do not say you're sorry. You did nothing wrong at all. No one did anything wrong. Not you or my parents. This is a super great thing for everyone here. All the Potters are better off because you're here. I'm just still processing it all."

All the Potters are better off because of me? I doubted it.

"Don't doubt yourself." Can he read minds? "First off, Lily has always been a firecracker, but I don't think she's been this happy since I left for Hogwarts. Second, have you seen my dad? He's practically glowing. He's so happy to have you here. So is mum. You should have seen how she was looking at you and Lil. Like you've been here forever. Well, and Al can always use another person to tell him to get his head out of his arse."

I giggled. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are _you_ better because I'm here?" What was _wrong_ with me?! Way to put him on the spot. Godric, I'm stupid. You're trying to get him to like you.

"Of course." He didn't even hesitate. "Well, first, I'm better when my family is better obviously. Especially Lily. And second, I have a feeling we're going to be friends."

"Friends?"

"Yeah. Friends." He held out his hand to me again, and we shook, smiling. Suddenly, I remembered something.

"Wait! I have something for you!" I went around the other side of my bed and grabbed the bag. "Here."

"What is it?" James held the bag, squinting like maybe he'd be able to see through it.

"A present, obviously. Open it." I was doing my real big smile now.

He pulled out the tissue paper, and pulled out a black frame. It encased a picture Lily and I had found the other day. It was of James and Lily. James was sitting on a swing at some Muggle park with Lily on his lap. They were laughing hysterically, their hair everywhere. He touched the glass and cleared his throat again.

"I, uhm, know that you and Lily are really close, and your mum said she wasn't sure if you ever say this picture, so I thought maybe you could bring it to Hogwarts. Lily has the same one next to her bed."

He didn't say anything but stood and wrapped his arms around me, still holding the bag in one hand and the frame in the other. Godric, this family hugged _a lot_. I hugged back though. My arms around his middle and his around my shoulders. We pulled away, and he smiled. "Yeah. Definitely friends."


	14. Chapter 14

I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Today went surprisingly well. Harry was right. Albus was the easy one. He definitely was cool with having me around. Especially if I kept supplying baked goods. And Harry was even more right about James. My connection, our connection to Lily was what was going to bring us together. And I didn't mind that one bit.

I woke up the next morning to a lot of laughing. I rubbed my eyes and my bed started to shake. Lily and Albus were jumping on me, jarring me into consciousness. James was leaning against my doorway, laughing.

"I'm up. I'm up. Stop. Get off. Ow! Albus! That's my head."

"Sorry, Amelia." But he was still laughing. Lily was too.

"Come _on_ , Amelia. It's breakfast time!" James and Albus froze. Lily ate breakfast now? Yes. Yes, she does. I looked them both as Lily skipped out of my room and down the hall.

"You're welcome." I shrugged my shoulders and started laughing. I went to brush my teeth and came back to James sitting on the top step.

"Morning." He said.

I sat down next to him. "Morning."

"So, friend." He nudged me with his shoulder and smirked. "Every year my cousins and some of our friends go hang out at this lake by our grandparents house…"

"The Burrow?" James's eyebrows shot up, obviously surprised that I had been there. When I didn't volunteer any more information, he continued.

"Yeah. The Burrow. Anyway. This year, Al is officially old enough to come too, and I thought you might like to join us. Really get yourself knee-deep in the whole Potter/Weasley clan. We mostly just swim, even though it's still too cold, and hang out."

I smiled. "Yeah. Okay. Oh. I don't have a bathing suit though."

"Really?"

"No. Actually. I don't know how to swim. I've never been swimming before."

"Wait. What?!" James looked outraged. "No way. Okay, then you're definitely coming. No questions. It is my mission today to teach you how to swim. Now let's go eat! You have to wait a half hour after food before you can get in the water! The faster we eat the sooner we can go. Now, move out, troops!"

I hesitated, but then saluted my new captain and followed him down the steps.

* * *

I had never seen so many redheads in my life. One of them had brought me an extra swimsuit. Lucy? Molly? Rose? I don't know. They all move and talk so fast. It was overwhelming. I threw it on under my clothes in bathroom at the Burrow before I followed the large group down the road. Twenty minutes later we approached a huge lake. The banks were a mixture of sand and dirty and small twigs. But the water was oddly clear. It was beautiful. Many of the boys seemed to jump right in, shouting at how cold it was. It was still spring. The sun hadn't had all summer to warm up the water yet.

I laid down the towel Ginny had given me and sat down. I brought my knees to my chest and rested my knees in the crevice between them, my arms wrapping around my shins. I was always a people watcher.

When I was a sick little princess with my mother in London, I loved to watch the families walk by. The little boys and girls laughing and smiling. The moms and dads who would kiss each other, holding hands.

When I was working as a waitress, I would stay back and watch couples on their first date, or families out to eat. I liked to see what they would do. How they would react. I started to know when people were happy or sad or sincere or lying just by watching.

So I could tell fairly easily, this was a happy family.

* * *

Amelia was not having enough fun. I shook my head around, water droplets flying everywhere. The lake was freezing, as usual, but if there was one thing common to the Potter and Weasley names, it was stubbornness. Also tradition. So that's two things. Kill me. We were too stubborn to not jump in the lake even though I might make us all freeze to death, and also we all loved traditions too much to stop once Fred and I found this place three years ago.

I felt one of the girls jump on my back, probably Rose, and try to dunk me. But instead I just rolled and floated on my back, essentially dunking her. Once she let go, I started my trek out of the water and towards Amelia. I tried not to drip on her too much, as I laid out my towel next to hers and sat down.

"Hi."

"Hi, James."

I sighed. Maybe I should have waited, we were a lot to handle when we were all together. And this wasn't even every one.

"Hey, James?" Amelia tilted her head to finally look at me without lifting it off her knee.

"What's up, Melia?"

"Melia?"

"What? UH-Melia is just too long. We're big about nicknames around here."

She raised her eyebrows slightly but continued. "So I know everyone said who they were, but I am super confused. That's why I'm over here, besides not knowing how to swim."

I laughed. At least she wasn't scared. And so I explained.

"So Uncle Bill is married to Aunt Fleur, and they have Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. I don't know where Vic is, probably off with my cousin Teddy somewhere. But Dom is the real prissy one with long blonde hair. And Louis has blond hair too. He's only ten, so he's not allowed to come to the lake yet. They're the only blonds out of us all." I could see her searching through the sea of people for Dominique. When recognition reached her eyes, I continued.

"Uncle Percy is married to Aunt Penelope and they have two girls, Molly and Lucy. Molly is the one just over there in the red suit. She's yelling at the tallest red-head about something." I could see Amelia find them, and she nodded. "Lucy is the same age as Louis. Uncle George has Fred and Roxanne, er, Roxy. Don't call her Roxanne. Only her mother does. And Grandma. Anyway. Fred is the one that Molly is yelling ,at. And Roxy is the one laying next to Dominique. Those two, Molly and Fred are the same age as us." She nodded again.

"Fred, Roxy, Dominique, Molly. Got it."

"So Uncle Ron, who you've met is with Aunt Hermione…"

"Who I also met."

Huh. She met Aunt Hermione too. I looked at her confused hoping she would elaborate, but she didn't make eye contact with me. I cleared my thoat. "Yeah, so they have Rose and Hugo. Rose is the same age as Al. And she has the super long hair. She's there, trying to shove Al under the water. And Hugo is also ten like Louis and Lucy."

"Poor Lily." I looked at her confused again. "She's going to be all alone for two whole years with _no_ cousins left before she gets to come to Hogwarts. And she'll only get to be there for one year with you. No wonder she's always so sad when everyone leaves."

My eyes widened. This girl is good. She understands Lily. And Mum. And Grandma. I wonder if she'd help me with girls at school.

"I never thought of it like that." It was true. I hadn't. We were family. We were always together. It didn't occur to me how much Lily was actually left out because she was so much younger. How much she would be left out of in the future. She was the baby, and she hated it.

"It's easy to see when people are all alone when you've been all alone too."

Suddenly, Amelia looked so old to me. She couldn't be fifteen like me and Fred and the rest. She could be seventeen. Even twenty. Maybe older. For a split second she looked like she had lived a hundred years, but then it disappeared, and she was smiling once again.

I put my hand on her shoulder softly, and she turned to look at me again, no longer searching out the correct red-head.

"Melia, remember. You're not alone anymore."

She smiled and nodded her head.

"Come on, let's teach you how to swim!" I used her shoulder to push myself up and then held it out for her to take. She did. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the shallow end practicing how to float and freestyle and doggy paddle. Eventually, Fred came over because he's my best friend. He helped too. I was glad to see that they were accepting each other because I had really begun to accept Amelia. And I didn't want to have to choose between my new friend and my old ones.


	15. Chapter 15

James and Albus were going back to Hogwarts. They only had about two more months left of school before a week of exams, and then they would be home for the summer. After spending a whole day with a whole bunch of Weasley kids, I had to admit, I was anxious for them to come home. I loved Lily and Harry and Ginny, but having a taste of being around _a lot_ of kids your own age was thrilling for me. I wanted more. I was excited for a summer of fun and maybe even more friends like James was turning out to be.

It wasn't long until the three Potters not at Hogwarts and I were at the Burrow for a family dinner. Molly was bustling around the kitchen while I was telling her about some things I was learning about from the Potter library.

"Did you know that some magical children can do magic even in infancy? But many times parents don't even notice. Or they think they're so tired from having a newborn that they simply brush it off as forgetfulness or their own sleep-walking!"

Molly did actually stop cooking for a second and turn and look at me for a moment. "Fred and George. They had these adorable matching onesies. They boys screamed murder any time we tried to dress them up. I swear they were clean, but they kept ending up with the dirty laundry. Arthur and I just thought we were nuts. Tired. Exhausted. Those boys are the reason my hair is gray."

I giggled. I liked when Molly told stories about when her kids were babies. Or when Ginny told stories about when James, Albus or Lily were babies. I didn't know any of my own stories. So it was fun to imagine I had been similar.

Harry came into the kitchen and offered to help carry some things to the table, so I helped too.

We all sat down. I sat with Lily, Louis, Hugo, and Lucy. Even though I wasn't a kid per say, the kids' table appealed to me. Besides, all of us, except Lily, would be starting our first year of Hogwarts together in a couple months, and we were excited.

"Dom told me that when you're sorted you have to take a test, and it's _really_ hard."

"Molly told me that it's not a test! She said it's really easy, but she wouldn't say what you had to do."

"Well my _dad_ told me that they cover your eyes and spin you in a circle and you have to point to the table, but you're all dizzy so you have no idea where you're looking!"

We all stopped and just looked at Hugo. I actually started to choke on my chicken, and Bill had to thump me on the back. I thanked him and turned back to Hugo.

"I am pretty sure that's not how you get sorted."

"Well if you're so smart, Amelia, you tell us."

I thought for a minute. I had read how you were sorted in _Hogwarts, A History_ , but what was the fun in that. I looked from left to right, pretending to make sure that no one was listening. I leaned in really close, and the other kids copied me. I whispered.

"I heard that they put you in a room with a snake, a badger, a lion, and a eagle. Whichever one you convince to save you from being eaten by the other three is the house you're in."

Their eyes grew as wide as plates, and they all sat back in their chairs. I could hear the adults pretending to carry on their conversations while trying not to laugh. I turned and George winked at me. I smiled, proud of myself.

Summer seemed to be inching closer and closer. While the Potter boys and all the Weasley kids were taking exams at Hogwarts, I was being shuffled to and fro the Ministry with Harry, Ron and Hermione to take my exams. I had been studying really hard, and with Ginny's help, I felt more prepared than I ever had.

The day of my last exam, Potions, Hermione was set to bring me back home. As we walked towards the apparition point in the lobby, she asked how my exams went.

"I honestly think it's the best I've ever done. I am really hopeful that I did well."

"That's awesome, Amelia. I'm sure you did. You're a bright girl."

"It was really Ginny. She helped me a lot."

"It was you too. Don't sell yourself short." I smiled. "So… have you taken my advice? Talked to anyone about what happened to you? Besides me, I mean."

My smile faded. No. "Well. I talked to Harry about it after it happened a little bit. He blamed himself, but I told him not to."

"Just Harry and me then?"

I nodded. I know Hermione told me to share, but it was hard. Too hard to think about let alone talk about.

As if she could read minds, Hermione spoke again. "Well, I know it's really hard to talk about, but if you do, the next time will be easier and easier and easier, until suddenly, it's not a burden to you anymore."

I nodded once again, and she grabbed my arm. With a loud crack, we were gone.

* * *

I helped Lily and Ginny bake some more goodies for the boys the morning they were set to come home for the summer. I think I was just as excited as Lily. Albus had been writing letters about how he wanted to invite a friend over and so had James. And when all the kids were home, fun was bound to follow. I was so excited. I begged Harry to take me with him to pick them up at the train station. I rationed that it would be beneficial that the first time I was there wasn't when I was all set to board the train myself in the fall. Harry gave in, which led to some crocodile tears from Lily.

I couldn't stand still on the platform. I was tapping my foot or bouncing lightly on my toes. I kept turning in circles and looking at all the people. Harry kept laughing at me, but I didn't care. The train arrived and a gaggle of redheads spilled out from one section of the train. James was in the middle of it, but Albus and a blond-haired boy exited much more suavely from the car behind.

"Dad, this is my friend, Scorpius Malfoy."

Harry held out his hand. "Hello there, Scorpius. It's nice to meet you. I hear you might be coming to stay with us a bit this summer."

"Yes, sir. It's nice to meet you too. I really appreciate you inviting me."

"It's no problem at all! This is Amelia, by the way." I smiled and waved at the boy. He seemed awful nervous. He nodded his head slightly in greeting to me.

James suddenly appeared and practically launched himself at me. "AMELIA. Please tell me you baked cookies. PLEASE. Those _animals_ didn't wake me up when the trolley came, and I haven't had any sweets _all day_."

I could see Harry rolling his eyes, and some redheads behind him sniggering behind their hands. Harry just picked the trunks and led us over to some fireplaces along the outside of the platform. We nicely waited in line, well except James who was clutching his stomach as though he was in real pain. We all said goodbye to Scorpius who eventually departed with his parents who seemed a little less warm and fuzzy than the Weasleys and Potters.

Harry sent James and I through the floo first, and he followed with Albus. As we landed in the living room, James practically knocked me over shouting about cookies. And off he ran to the kitchen.


	16. Chapter 16

Summer was going by too quickly for my liking. The week days were spent mostly at home with Ginny, James, Albus, and Lily. We would spend the days flying, which I had also never done before, but Ginny taught me, and I was decent. I couldn't hold a quaffle while I flew yet. I would get distracted and start to slip off the broom. But it was fun to race and just be in the air. We also spent a lot of time keeping up with James's cookie intake. I even got to teach Albus how to bake. He was a much better student than Lily had been. About once a week, Ginny managed to get us all to sit in the dinning room and work on an assignment or two that we'd been assigned over the summer.

"I don't know how you learned about magic for four years like this, Amelia. This is bloody awful."

"James Sirius. Watch your language!" Ginny's head poking through the door.

"Sorry, mum."

I giggled. James was always getting caught by Ginny or Harry. Usually, Albus, Lily and I were also up to no good, but the three of us were much more adept at not getting caught. Or at least getting out of it on the rare occasion we were caught.

We spent our evenings waiting for Harry to get home so we could all have dinner. Ginny was a much better chef than baker. I was grateful. Harry would regal us with tales from his days at Hogwarts, or whatever he and Ron had been up to all day at work.

"So, we've got this got cornered in Diagon Alley. And we _know_ he's been selling fake Boomslang Skin all over England. And we tell him we are going to arrest him, and he has to turn out his pockets. So he does, mind you, he's got about a hundred pockets in this coat. So he starts emptying. Fake wands, a bunch of biscuits, all this stuff is piling up on the ground, so then he sticks his hand in a pocket and all these spiders start crawling out."

The four Potters start cracking up, but I'm confused. Albus leans over to me. "Uncle Ron is _terrified_ of spiders." I smiled.

"So there are spiders everywhere. And they're not stopping. It seems like they were coming out of his pocket for a whole minute. I turn around and Ron's backed himself up to one of the Aurors guarding the alleyway we're in, and tells him that he has to switch places. Once the other guy is close enough, he starts putting all the guys crap in a bag to bring at to the Ministry, but Ron is out on the street throwing up his lunch."

James laughs so hard he falls off his chair, which makes us laugh harder.

* * *

As like most weekends all summer, on this particular on in mid-August, we went to the Burrow. We all had sleeping bags and a small bag with a change of clothes. It was common for all the cousins to have a giant slumber part there. I was very happy to be included on the first one when everyone returned to Hogwarts. All summer, different cousins had friends visiting. It was exciting to meet other people. I felt like, I might know everyone at Hogwarts by the time I arrived there on September 1st.

The night before, Harry had arrived home for dinner were a friend of Albus's and a friend of James's. Their parents had dropped them both off at the Ministry, so Harry could escort them to Grimmauld Place.

Albus's friend was Scorpius, the blond haired boy from platform. He still seemed nervous, but then I remembered that I was living with Harry Potter, and most people were probably nervous about being near him. Granted, by now I had seen him fall out of bed after James managed to put a niffler under the sheets. I had also seen him slightly sloshed on his birthday. So nervous was something I would probably never be around Harry again. He always tried to make sure people knew that he was just a regular guy.

I tried to be kind to Scorpius as best I could because it seemed Ron was a little wary of the chap. I don't know why any grown-up would be wary of a 13 year old, but what do I know?

James friend that also joined us for the last two weeks of summer was named Connor Wood. Harry's dad had played Quidditch with Connor's parents, and James played Quidditch with Connor. When the two of them and Fred were together, it was mayhem for all.

We were all sitting in the backyard of the Burrow, around a large bonfire. I could hear Molly's pots clanging in the kitchen, but I quickly tuned it out when I noticed James, Fred, and Connor with their heads awful close together. They were up to no good. James was way too excited about whatever they were talking about. Fred was trying to cover up his laughter. Connor was the only one who was mostly keeping his cool. But you could still tell he had a secret. His blue eyes were just slightly brighter than usual.

I continued to watch them while they whispered. James caught me looking and stopped whispering mid-sentence, but I just narrowed my eyes at him, attempting to imitate Ginny as best I could. The other two turned to look at me too. Fred just finally lost control of his laughter. Connor, however, winked at me. James looked from left to right seeing if anyone was watching and waved me over.

I followed James's lead and looked around too, but since Lily was already in bed, and Albus's friend was keeping him quite occupied, no one was paying much attention to me. I walked over to them and sat down in between Fred and Connor.

"All right, you knuckleheads. Fill me in."

Fred sniggered again. I rolled my eyes at him. Godric, how did they ever get away with anything with how much giggling this one did.

James leaned closer to me. "We're planning a prank for the Welcome Feast. While I'd love to include you, Melia, it will be your first day. Wouldn't want you to get in trouble before you've even hit the Common Room."

I rolled my eyes again. "Come on. You brought me over here, at least tell me what you're going to do."

"And ruin the surprise? No way. But Uncle Bill did tell us the story you told the little ones about being sorted. Now tell us, dear Amelia. How in the name of Merlin did you come up with that?"

* * *

The next morning I was up earlier than the rest of the kids. We all slept in our sleeping bags strewn about the living room. No one wanted to separate into bedrooms. What was the fun in that? So I snuck out of the room and into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I was just adding in way too much milk to suit normal human beings, when I heard the kitchen door open. I turned to find Connor trying to quietly shut it behind him. I didn't notice yesterday how tall he was. I could be an armrest for him.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he turned around and noticed me leaning against the counter. I stifled my laugh. "Coffee?"

He laughed a little too. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Amelia." I smiled and began pouring him a cup.

"Are you excited to start Hogwarts?"

I handed him the cup and passed over the sugar bowl and the milk. I smiled when I realized he used as much milk as me. "Yeah, I am. I always wanted to go. I'm nervous though. Being so old."

Connor raised his eyebrows. "Yes. Fifteen. Merlin, you're ancient."

"You know what I mean. I'm not eleven. I'm not a first year. I don't fancy the whole school looking at me. The tall one being sorted with the little firsties."

"You do realize you're quite short? You'll blend in." He laughed and sipped his coffee.

I narrowed my eyes at him, impersonating Ginny again as best I could. "I am not short."

Suddenly we could hear murmurs and the unzippering of sleeping bags coming from the living room.

"Don't worry, Amelia. There's no reason to be scared. You have a lot of people on your side." And at that moment half of them barged through the kitchen door, rubbing their eyes, missing a sock, yawning, and one of them even missing the chair they were aiming for and falling to the floor.


End file.
